D Mesons in Nuclear Matter: A DN Coupled-Channel Equations Approach

A set of coupled two-body scattering equations is solved for the DN system embedded in an iso-symmetric nuclear matter. The in-medium behavior of charmed D mesons: (D^+,D^0), is investigated from the self-consistent solution within this scheme. The effective meson-baryon Lagrangian in charm quantum number one sector, the key ingredient in the present study, is adopted from a recent model by Hofmann and Lutz which has aimed at combining the charmed meson degree of freedom in a consistent manner with chiral unitary models. After a critical examination, the original model is modified in several important aspects, such as the method of regularization, in order to be more consistent and practical for our objective. The resultant interaction is used to reproduce the position and width of the s-wave \Lambda_c(2593) resonance in the isospin zero DN channel. In the isospin one channel, it generates a rather wide resonance at \~2770 MeV. The corresponding in-medium solution is then sought by incorporating Pauli blocking and the D- and \pi-meson dressing self-consistently. At normal nuclear matter density, the resultant \Lambda_c (2593) is found to stay narrow and shifted at a lower energy, while the I=1 resonance is lowered in position as well and broadened considerably. The possible implication of our findings on the J/\Psi suppression, etc. in relativistic heavy ion collisions is briefly discussed.Comment: 30 pages, 8 eps figures, some typos and coefficients corrected, published in Phys. Rev.

Prospects and status of quark mass renormalization in three-flavour QCD

We present the current status of a revised strategy to compute the running of renormalized quark masses in QCD with three flavours of massless O(a) improved Wilson quarks. The strategy employed uses the standard finite-size scaling method in the Schr\"odinger functional and accommodates for the non-perturbative scheme-switch which becomes necessary at intermediate renormalized couplings as discussed in [arXiv:1411.7648].Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 1 table; Proceedings of the 33rd International Symposium on Lattice Field Theory, 14-18 July 2015, Kobe, Japa

Comment on: "Revealing common artifacts due to ferromagnetic inclusions in highly oriented pyrolytic graphite", by M. Sepioni, R.R. Nair, I.-Ling Tsai, A.K. Geim and I.V. Grigorieva, EPL 97 (2012) 47001

This comment addresses several issues in the paper by Sepioni et al., where it is stated that the ferromagnetism in pristine highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) reported by several groups in the previous years is most likely due to impurity contamination. In this comment, clear arguments are given why this statement is not justified. Furthermore, it is pointed out, that there are already measurements using element-sensitive microscopic techniques, e.g. X-ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism (XMCD) that directly proved the intrinsic origin of the ferromagnetism in graphite, also in pristine HOPG.Comment: 1, 0 figures, 9 reference

Aplicación del método Delphi para la inclusión de las externalidades en análisis de seguridad y de salud laboral

Organizations should regularly conduct an assessment of their occupational hazards in order to design and implement preventive measures that are necessary and sufficient to deal with the level of risk, the costs of prevention and the safety at levels considered acceptable by the organization. Furthermore, the selection of measures to be implemented in an organization should take into account both internal and external costs. Externalities are of great importance in terms of the costs of accidents at work; nevertheless, they are not often properly addressed by the organizations. In this paper we describe an application of the Delphi method to understand how externalities can be included in Occupational Safety and Health.Las organizaciones deben realizar periódicamente una evaluación de sus riesgos laborales con el fin de diseñar y poner en práctica medidas preventivas que sean necesarias y suficientes para mantener e l nivel de riesgo, los costos de la prevención y la seguridad en los niveles considerados aceptables por la organización. Por otra parte, la selección de las medidas a aplicar en una organización debe tener en cuenta tanto los costes internos como externos. Las externalidades son de gran importancia en términos de los costos de los accidentes de trabajo; sin embargo, a menudo no se tratan adecuadamente por las organizaciones. En este artículo se describe una aplicación del método Delphi para entender cómo los factores externos pueden ser incluidos en la Seguridad y Salud Laboral.The authors would like to acknowledge all the experts who have participated in the Delphi panel. The authors also acknowledge the anonymous reviewers who helped to improve the overall quality of the current manuscript. This study was financially supported by FCT-Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia of Portugal, under the project ID/CEC/00319/2013

Endogenous Cycles in Optimal Monetary Policy with a Nonlinear Phillips Curve

There is by now a large consensus in modern monetary policy. This consensus has been built upon a dynamic general equilibrium model of optimal monetary policy with sticky prices a la Calvo and forward looking behavior. In this paper we extend this standard model by introducing nonlinearity into the Phillips curve. As the linear Phillips curve may be questioned on theoretical grounds and seems not to be favoured by empirical evidence, a similar procedure has already been undertaken in a series papers over the last few years, e.g., Schaling (1999), Semmler and Zhang (2004), Nobay and Peel (2000), Tambakis (1999), and Dolado et al. (2004). However, these papers were mainly concerned with the analysis of the problem of inflation bias, by deriving an interest rate rule which is nonlinear, leaving the issues of stability and the possible existence of endogenous cycles in such a framework mostly overlooked. Under the specific form of nonlinearity proposed in our paper (which allows for both convexity and concavity and secures closed form solutions), we show that the introduction of a nonlinear Phillips curve into a fully deterministic structure of the standard model produces significant changes to the major conclusions regarding stability and the efficiency of monetary policy in the standard model. We should emphasize the following main results: (i) instead of a unique fixed point we end up with multiple equilibria; (ii) instead of saddle--path stability, for different sets of parameter values we may have saddle stability, totally unstable and chaotic fixed points (endogenous cycles); (iii) for certain degrees of convexity and/or concavity of the Phillips curve, where endogenous fluctuations arise, one is able to encounter various results that seem interesting. Firstly, when the Central Bank pays attention essentially to inflation targeting, the inflation rate may have a lower mean and is certainly less volatile; secondly, for changes in the degree of price stickiness the results are not are clear cut as in the previous case, however, we can also observe that when such stickiness is high the inflation rate tends to display a somewhat larger mean and also higher volatility; and thirdly, it shows that the target values for inflation and the output gap (π^,x^), both crucially affect the dynamics of the economy in terms of average values and volatility of the endogenous variables --- e.g., the higher the target value of the output gap chosen by the Central Bank, the higher is the inflation rate and its volatility --- while in the linear case only the π^ does so (obviously, only affecting in this case the level of the endogenous variables). Moreover, the existence of endogenous cycles due to chaotic motion may raise serious questions about whether the old dictum of monetary policy (that the Central Bank should conduct policy with discretion instead of commitment) is not still very much in the business of monetary policy.Optimal monetary policy, Interest Rate Rules, Nonlinear Phillips Curve, Endogenous Fluctuations and Stabilization

Estudos de solos para ordenamento do uso cerâmico das argilas da baixada campista - Estado do Rio de Janeiro.

Este estudo teve como objetivo fundamental identificar, em caráter preliminar, indicadores de solos e do ambiente de produção que possam auxiliar na tomada de decisão quanto à exploração destas terras para fins cerâmicos em detrimento ao agropecuário e quanto à sua real possibilidade econômica de recuperação para outros usos após a lavra.bitstream/CNPS/11605/1/doc52_2003_baixada_campista.pdf; bitstream/item/223068/1/Mapa-semidetalhado-de-solos-de-parte-da-baixada-campista-2003.pdfAcompanha 1 mapa, color. Escala 1:50.000

LISA pathfinder micronewton cold gas thrusters: in-flight characterization

The LISA Pathfinder (LPF) mission has demonstrated the ability to limit and measure the fluctuations in acceleration between two free falling test masses down to sub-femto-g levels. One of the key elements to achieve such a level of residual acceleration is the drag free control. In this scheme the spacecraft is used as a shield against any external disturbances by adjusting its relative position to a reference test mass. The actuators used to move the spacecraft are cold gas micropropulsion thrusters. In this paper, we report in-flight characterization of these thrusters in term of noise and artefacts during science operations using all the metrology capabilities of LISA Pathfinder. Using the LISA Pathfinder test masses as an inertial reference frame, an average thruster noise of ~0.17¿¿µN/Hz is observed and decomposed into a common (coherent) and an uncorrelated component. The very low noise and stability of the onboard metrology system associated with the quietness of the space environment allowed the measurement of the thruster noise down to ~20¿¿µHz, more than an order of magnitude below any ground measurement. Spectral lines were observed around ~1.5¿¿mHz and its harmonics and around 55 and 70 mHz. They are associated with the cold gas system itself and possibly to a clock synchronization issue. The thruster noise-floor exhibits an excess of ~70% compared to characterization that have been made on ground on a single unit and without the feeding system. However this small excess has no impact on the LPF mission performance and is compatible with the noise budget for the upcoming LISA gravitational wave observatory. Over the whole mission, nominal, and extension, the thrusters showed remarkable stability for both the science operations and the different maneuvers necessary to maintain LPF on its orbit around L1. It is therefore concluded that a similar cold gas system would be a viable propulsion system for the future LISA mission.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Novel methods to measure the gravitational constant in space

We present two novel methods, tested by LISA Pathfinder, to measure the gravitational constant G for the first time in space. Experiment 1 uses electrostatic suspension forces to measure a change in acceleration of a test mass due to a displaced source mass. Experiment 2 measures a change in relative acceleration between two test masses due to a slowly varying fuel tank mass. Experiment 1 gave a value of G=6.71±0.42(×10-11)¿¿m3¿s-2¿kg-1 and experiment 2 gave 6.15±0.35(×10-11)¿¿m3¿s-2¿kg-1, both consistent with each other to 1s and with the CODATA 2014 recommended value of 6.67408±0.00031(×10-11)¿¿m3¿s-2¿kg-1 to 2s. We outline several ideas to improve the results for a future experiment, and we suggest that a measurement in space would isolate many terrestrial issues that could be responsible for the inconsistencies between recent measurements.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version